Published 4:00 am, Friday, September 25, 1998

1998-09-25 04:00:00 PDT SOUTH BAY -- President Clinton returns for Democratic fund raising in Silicon Valley today amid signs that the wealth of support he once enjoyed from high-tech executives has been eroded by the White House sex scandal.

While first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is the star at a sold-out $250-a-head fund- raiser for incumbent U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer in San Francisco tonight, sources in Silicon Valley say it has been more of a struggle to sell tickets to the president's exclusive events to the high-tech donors who once clamored to participate in them.

The contrast between the two Clinton fund-raisers underscores the deepening effects of the scandal in the nation's most populous state, where the president has enjoyed widespread support.

President Clinton's $25,000-per- couple fund-raising reception tonight at the Tech Museum in San Jose -- one of dozens of high- priced fund-raisers he has attended in California -- has put the loyalty of a group of big money high-tech supporters to the test.

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"It's a great opportunity to show they're not just fair-weather friends, despite the fact that they're uniformly horrified by his behavior," said Reed Hastings, president of Technology Network, the bipartisan political action committee under whose banner tonight's fund-raiser is being held.

The event, scheduled months ago, is co-chaired by John Doerr, TechNet co-founder and a leading Clinton loyalist since 1996.

Sources close to the event say Doerr has been scrambling to find people who will pay to attend the gathering, in some cases extending no-cost invitations to assure a good crowd.

Doerr referred all inquiries to Wade Randlett, TechNet's Democratic director, who said the rumors are untrue.

The event will draw a good crowd, including key figures who supported Clinton in the past, said Randlett.

But Randlett said there will be some nonpaying guests who are taking the places of people who sent checks but are unable to attend.

"We just had a lot of folks who wanted to be supportive of the president but couldn't make it," Randlett said.

Another party insider suggested that many high-tech leaders -- who have repeatedly dug into their pockets for Clinton events -- are simply holding off this time because "they're getting tapped out."

Randlett said the event will raise more than he expected -- although final figures are not in -- and added that interest has grown since the release of the president's videotaped grand jury testimony.

"My present sense right now is that we've really turned the corner," Randlett said.

Backers of the event have been pitching it as a show of support for a president whose policies have been in virtual lock-step with the industry agenda.

They point out that Clinton's visit comes on the heels of a critical agreement Wednesday by the White House and congressional leaders on legislation doubling the number of foreign workers who can enter the United States on special visas to fill high-technology jobs for the next three years. Silicon Valley industry leaders have long lobbied for an increase in the so-called H-1B visas, saying they cannot find qualified workers to do high-level technology work, but their position has been bitterly opposed by some labor leaders.

This week, the Clinton administration -- which had indicated it might veto such legislation -- said a compromise was reached by providing funding for retraining programs for American workers. The retraining, costing millions of dollars, would be paid for by fees from foreign workers who get the special visas to work here. The lifting of the visa cap was welcomed as a bipartisan agreement that will help fill the industry's needs until enough skilled workers are available.

Many of the high-tech leaders who lobbied Clinton on that issue are also keenly aware that the president will leave San Jose and go to another exclusive dinner in Los Angeles tomorrow hosted by attorney Bill Lerach, the leading advocate of shareholder lawsuits and industry executives' foremost bogeyman.

Lerach was the principal backer in 1996 of Proposition 211, a statewide ballot measure that would have made it easier to file shareholder lawsuits. Industry executives regarded the proposal as a frontal assault, and they roused themselves into a fit of political activism that continues today.

Indeed, for the past two years Clinton and industry executives have enjoyed a fine romance, including a high-profile endorsement of the president's re-election in 1996, followed by a private dinner with $50,000 donors a month later and a big $50,000-per-person event a year ago at the home of CNET chairman Halsey Minor.

But in contrast to the unbridled enthusiasm that greeted Clinton on many past visits to Silicon Valley, this time the approach appears more subdued.

"I still support him," said John Dean, the chief executive officer of Silicon Valley Bank who endorsed Clinton in 1996. "Obviously, I don't support what he did, and I think you can differentiate between the two."

Regis McKenna, a high-tech strategy consultant and one of Silicon Valley's staunchest Democrats, said he does not plan to attend the dinner and has tried to distance himself from all the recent controversy.

"I've been very good about not reading, hearing or talking about anything having to do with this," McKenna said. "I'm still a Democrat. I'm a faithful Democrat. I believe in their principles. But I'm not going to comment on (the scandal)."

But Harry J. Saal, founder of Network General (now Network Associates) and another active Democrat, said he will be at tonight's event, eagerly showing support for the president.

"I am supporting him and I guess even more so, given the way this problem is being handled. . . . I certainly can't defend everything the president has done, but I am certainly outraged by what so many other public officials are doing under some banner of justice and morality," said Saal, who also chairs the charitable nonprofit Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Clinton, who will continue on to San Diego as well as Los Angeles for more Democratic Party fund- raisers tomorrow, is also expected to be the focus of protests.

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